Before the breakout of Covid-19 we were, for the first time as an industry, coming together to meet legislation to drive real and practical change towards a real target – to produce net zero carbon by 2050.
However, with this target just 30 years away (or probably less as voluntary targets are being set for 2030 or 2035), we are running out of time. Realistically, based on the lifecycle of buildings, most will only get one significant refurbishment opportunity in that time. To embed real change and put into practice the necessary processes to meet net zero targets, we must act now. With the clock ticking we simply cannot afford to delay, even in the name of economic recovery from Covid-19.
As Samantha McClary’s recent leader rightly pointed out, our industry’s response to sustainability must not fall by the wayside, and I hope that our hard-fought ESG principles will not be sacrificed as they were during the 2008 crash. The need to tackle the climate crisis remains as urgent as ever.
This will hurt
We are repeatedly being told that the property industry is responsible for a massive 40% of total UK carbon emissions, and we have a collective responsibility to redress this figure.
Let us be clear – for the real estate sector, this will hurt. There are no viable shortcuts available to us, and this initiative will fundamentally alter the way in which buildings operate and are managed. It will likely render obsolete the traditional model of recovering costs and short paybacks.
The buildings that pose the greatest challenge for net zero are not the new assets that are tech-enabled with sensors and building management systems, but the older stock where plant is dated, and where there are greater inefficiencies and much less control.
Thankfully, there is a growing realisation that changing lighting to LEDs and adjusting timers is no longer enough. If we are serious about meeting targets, then we need to push for larger changes. Gas and oil systems must go; onsite renewables are required, and significant efficiencies must be introduced.
In short, almost all existing buildings need wholesale refurbishment, and with that comes a requirement to tackle the measurement of embodied carbon in them, which is a challenge in itself.
Many of our clients are already committing resources to this undertaking, and we are seeing a high demand for specialist management and technical knowledge to achieve sustainability targets at asset level. Effective engagement will be fundamental to achieving targets, and every stakeholder – from fund manager to occupier to engineer – will need to be fully united on the same pathway to make progress.
We cannot waver
Covid-19 has shown us once again that in a time of crisis our industry will rally around shared objectives. In this instance, it is changing the way buildings operate and perform, while managing key relationships from a distance.
We need to remember this when we face the next mountain – aligning priorities and targets to achieve net zero. This is why it is so important that we continue to drive the sustainability agenda, even in the midst of this crisis. We need to keep talking about ESG issues, coalesce around a viable long-term strategy, and keep building a strong platform for the net zero pathway.
Tackling net zero was always going to be a colossal undertaking, and while efforts to recover from the impact of Covid-19 will understandably dominate the agenda in the short and medium term, in the long term the cost of not meeting sustainability targets could carry an even greater cost, so we cannot waver now.
We need to put together a new and higher standard of best practice, through transparency and collaboration, and come together not only as an industry but on a global level to meet our sustainability targets.
Vicky Cotton is sustainability and wellbeing director at Workman
